book-information

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (1)

Genre

Fiction, Contemporary, Literature, Humor, Biography Memoir, Novels, American, Literary Fiction, Unfinished, Adult

Synopsis

A book that redefines both family and narrative for the twenty-first century. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is the moving memoir of a college senior who, in the space of five weeks, loses both of his parents to cancer and inherits his eight-year-old brother. Here is an exhilarating debut that manages to be simultaneously hilarious and wildly inventive as well as a deeply heartfelt story of the love that holds a family together.

definitions.

dandified

adjective

  1. Characteristic (in dress and habits) of a dandy

verb

  1. To dress as, or to adopt the style of, a dandy.

similar:

example:

gauche

/ɡəʊʃ/

adjective

  1. Awkward or lacking in social graces; bumbling.
  2. Skewed, not plane.
  3. Describing a torsion angle of 60°.

similar:

gawky
graceless
tactless
unpolished
unsophisticated

example:

dyspepsia

/dɪsˈpɛp.si.ə/

noun

  1. Any mild disorder of digestion, characterised by stomach pain, discomfort, heartburn and nausea, often following a meal.

similar:

indigestion

example:

maudlin

/ˈmɔːd.lɪn/

noun

  1. The Magdalene; Mary Magdalene.
  2. Either of two aromatic plants, costmary or sweet yarrow.
  3. A Magdalene house; a brothel.

adjective

  1. Affectionate or sentimental in an effusive, tearful, or foolish manner, especially because of drunkenness.
  2. Extravagantly or excessively sentimental; mawkish, self-pitying.
  3. Tearful, lachrymose.

similar:

example:

vis-a-vis

noun

  1. A small horse-drawn carriage for two people sitting facing each other.
  2. A sofa with seats for two people, so arranged that the occupants are face to face while sitting on opposite sides.
  3. One of two (or more) people facing or opposite each other.
  4. A date or escort in a social event.
  5. A person holding a corresponding position in another organisation.

adjective

  1. Face-to-face
  2. In relation to
  3. (of a coin) having two portraits facing each other

adverb

  1. Face to face (with another)
  2. In a position facing a specified or implied subject.

preposition

  1. In relation to; compared with.
  2. Opposite, across from, set so as to be facing.

similar:

counterpart

example:

coterie

/ˈkəʊtəɹi/

noun

  1. A circle of people who associate with one another.
  2. An exclusive group of people, who associate closely for a common purpose.
  3. A communal burrow of prairie dogs.

similar:

clique

example:

iconoclast

/aɪˈkɒnəklæst/

noun

  1. One who destroys religious images or icons, especially an opponent of the Orthodox Church in the 8th and 9th centuries, or a Puritan during the European Reformation.
  2. One who opposes orthodoxy and religion; one who adheres to the doctrine of iconoclasm.
  3. (by extension) One who attacks cherished beliefs.

similar:

example:

coddling

verb

  1. To treat gently or with great care.
  2. To cook slowly in hot water that is below the boiling point.
  3. To exercise excessive or damaging authority in an attempt to protect. To overprotect.

noun

  1. The act of one who coddles or pampers.

noun

  1. A young small cod.
  2. A hake (cod-related food fish), notably from the genus Urophycis.

noun

  1. A small, immature apple
  2. Any of various greenish, elongated English apple varieties, used for cooking

similar:

simmer
cosset
pamper
posset
spoil

example:

ocher

/ˈəʊkə/

noun

  1. An earth pigment containing silica, aluminum and ferric oxide
  2. A somewhat dark yellowish orange colour
  3. The stop codon sequence "UAA."
  4. Money, especially gold.
  5. Any of various brown-coloured hesperiid butterflies of the genus Trapezites.

verb

  1. To cover or tint with ochre.

similar:

example:

velour

noun

  1. A knit fabric similar to velvet, but usually somewhat coarser.

similar:

example: